


Family

by TheAssassinLover



Series: The Life of Venna Tabris [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Getting to Know Each Other, mothers, sad pasts, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2016-12-02
Packaged: 2018-09-03 16:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8721157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAssassinLover/pseuds/TheAssassinLover
Summary: Venna asks Zev his opinion of the Dalish. This spawns a discussion about mothers.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I changed canon a bit. I know Tabris' mother isn't Dalish, but Fang has some Dalish origins clearly, so I changed things a bit for my personal canon means.

“What do you think of the Dalish?” It was a question born of pure curiosity. Their party had just found the Dalish camp and had set up their own not too far off. “I had always wondered what they would be like.”

Zevran looked at her thoughtfully before speaking. “I know little of the Dalish save the fact that my mother was one.” This seemed to capture Venna’s attention and he continued. “She fell in love with a woodcutter and moved to the city with him, leaving her clan for good.” It was clear from his expression that this story had no happy end to it. “Of course soon after that, the woodcutter died of some nasty disease and my mother was forced to work as a whore to survive. Some time later I was born though my mother did not survive. My first victim, you may say.” He grew quiet for a moment before continuing. “Myself and the other children were raised communally by the whores. If you could ignore the occasional beating it wasn’t a poor existence. I lived with them until I was eventually sold to the Crows, fetched a good price I’ve been told. The rest my dear warden is history.”

“Zevran that’s…awful,” Venna said quietly. Her views on the Antivan had been changing rapidly as of late and the more she learned of him the more she began to understand him.

Zevran let out a humorless laugh. “It wasn’t so bad. Would you like to hear what happened to the boys who didn’t fetch a good price with the Crows?” He shook his head. “Back to the Dalish. My mother had a pair of gloves. They were obviously of Dalish make, and very beautiful. I hid them for a time after I joined the Crows. We were not permitted to have such things but alas they were found. I never saw them again.” He smiled sadly. “When I was younger I would entertain fantasies of running off to join one of the Dalish clans when they set up camp near Antiva. Of course, the reality of their way of life doesn’t quite add up to the fantasies I created as a child.” He looked over at her. “What about you Venna. People like you and I do not get here from good experiences.”

Venna glanced at him with a saddened expression. “My mother was Dalish as well.” She spoke quietly. “She was one of her clan’s hunters, and very skilled. One day she ran into my father in the woods, from what I’m told it was nearly love at first sight.” She heard Zevran scoff and shook her head. “It didn’t take long for her to make the decision to leave her clan. My father had been traveling to Denerim from a village he’d grown up in. He thought the city would have more to offer.” Both Venna and Zevran shared a passing thought of how wrong he was. “He had stayed near the Dalish camp for several days just so he could see my mother. When she approached him saying she wished to go with him he didn’t know how to react. Long story short she went with him, and several years later I was born.” Venna blinked rapidly when she felt her eyes water. She refused to cry in front of anyone, especially Zevran. “She taught me how to fight, gave me my first dagger at three. My father nearly had a heart attack.” Venna grew quiet after that.

“Where is she now?” Zevran asked quietly.

Venna shook her head sadly. “The Alienage does not protect us from the shems in the city. They have a bad habit of thinking our women are fair game. During one such incident, my mother saved a fifteen-year-old girl from being taken. The damned human cut her through.” Venna took a deep breath. “I was ten, and I saw the whole thing.” That day had etched images into her mind. The young elf her mother saved kicking and screaming at the shems to let her go. How they laughed at her attempts. How her mother knocked one of them out giving the girl time to run. How his partner drew his dagger and plunged it into her chest. Venna remembered crying, screaming for her mother. She remembered the cold gaze of the shem falling on her and he smiled. Smiled a cruel grin she could never truly forget. Her father had to hold her back so she wouldn’t charge after them. He too was crying, his heart clearly shattered. Venna hadn’t been the same after that day. It was the day she realized what a cruel world they truly lived in. “How I joined the wardens is another story, one I’m afraid will have to be told another time.” She stood up. “I’m going for a walk.” Zevran stared after her but didn’t try to follow. Instead, he was left to mull over this new information.


End file.
